


ghost friends

by morganascorpse



Category: Arctic Monkeys, Last Shadow Puppets
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:02:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28580184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morganascorpse/pseuds/morganascorpse
Summary: you and alex are friends and you talk talk talk and go to the graveyard to feed the ghosts
Relationships: Alex Turner (Musician)/Reader
Kudos: 3





	ghost friends

“How… how much longer?”  
“C’mon chicken legs.” You said with a chuckle while Alex was a little behind you, trying to pretend that he weren’t out of breath at all and catch up with you at the same time.  
“You should quit smoking. You used to jump from tree to tree like a bloody monkey, now you get like that because of half a walk to the graveyard?”  
You sat down on the short dry stone wall that was just beside the sidewalk, waiting for your friend to get to you. He just gave you a look in response to your comment.  
You looked around you, it was a beautiful day, something rare considering where the two of you were from. It was around 5pm, you had spent the whole day laying on your backyard and reading, enjoying the sun’s rare appearance. Now it was beginning to set, it had gotten a little chilly and windy, so you put on a flannel blouse before going out.  
Alex was finally by your side, sitting down next to you and breathing in deeply. At the back of your mind there was a growing worry that one of your dearest friends would become a chain smoker, but you decided to stifle it. Al was very right in the head, you trusted him; and on top of that he wouldn’t listen if you tried to mom him, he might even push you away.  
You looked around, noticing three dandelions growing out of the corner of the wall. You held onto the stone and reached down to pick two of them, handing one to Alex and brushing your hair off of your face.  
“What’re you gonna wish for?” your friend asked you, his deep brown eyes absolutely clueless.  
“You’re not supposed to tell, dumbass.” You said with a giggle. “It’s supposed to stay close to your heart.”  
“Oh, okay.” He responded, laughing softly. Alex stared at the flower for a moment, before breathing in and actually managing to blow all the petals out in one try.  
You looked at yours, pondering about what to should wish for. You didn’t like wasting wishes. You settled for having your friends in your life forever, it was cheesy but it doesn’t matter how hard things get, if your friends are there you’re sure you can go through anything. You closed your eyes and blew as hard as you could, hoping that you’d get lucky like Al.  
To your surprise, there were no more petals left in your dandelion as well.  
“Oh my God!!! Al!!! I got it!!! I had never managed to do it before!!!” you exclaimed with joy. Alex gave you a smile and a weird look, but you were way too happy with your wish to give it a second thought. You put the flower stalk on the pocket of your blouse, got up and turned to Alex:  
“Let’s go?” you asked, a goofy smile still playing around your lips.  
Alex nodded and got up, walking side by side with you, this time slower so he wouldn’t lose his breath.  
“So… why are we going to the graveyard?” Alex asked, glancing at you sideways, a hint of suspicion in his voice.  
“To dig up a dead body, obviously. Who else would I choose for this task but Alexander ‘Noodle Arms’ Turner?” you stopped walking and looked at each other, trying to hold in your laughter but quickly letting out loud cackles that echoed through the empty street.  
“Alright, alright…” you said, resuming walking and trying to catch your breath, wiping a tear from the corner of your eye. “We are bringing the ghosts gifts!”  
Your friend stared at you with a confused expression before letting out a muffled “…what?”  
“Okay so, remember when my uncle visited America?”  
Al nodded.  
“Well, he brought me a bunch of Fate Magazines. I read in one of them that ghosts like to eat and party just like us! It said that we can leave food for them and they’ll eat like, the food’s soul? I didn’t get that part very well, but yeah that’s what we’re gonna do!”  
“…are you sure that this is safe, (Y/n)? What if the ghosts decide to follow us? I think these magazines are full of shite.”  
“What are you scared of, Al? Ghosts are just dead people. And who’s buried in this cemetery in the middle of nowhere? Just a bunch of our ancestors, it’ll be fine.” Your friend kept giving you a weird look, so you continued. “Cemeteries in small towns are usually really peaceful because one: people don’t forget about them that easily, there are people praying for them and they won’t like, walk around not knowing that they’re dead. Two: there aren’t a lot of people so I don’t know, the bad spirits aren’t gonna enslave the other spirits because there aren’t evil people here. And three: the cultist aren’t gonna travel all the way to High Green, Sheffield to perform their rituals! Anyways there’s nothing to fear.”  
“Hmmm… I don’t know…”  
“Then go home scaredy cat. The ghosts won’t like someone who’s scared of them.”  
“How do you know what the ghosts will or won’t like?”  
“Because I’m a person! And they’re just people! But dead!”  
Alex sighed, then concluded:  
“Okay… What did you bring the ghosts?”  
“Milk, honey, those buttery crackers that my aunt likes and tangerine jelly.”  
“That sounds nice. I’d like it if I was a ghost.” He gave your shoulder a gentle reassuring tap. You appreciated the gesture and decided to ignore the grin that he was trying to hide from you.  
“Thanks Al.” you smiled at him, then your expression changed to a confused yet amused one. “Wait. Why are you here if I forgot to tell you what we were doing?” Alex had just started talking to you and walking with you once you walked by his house, you totally forgot to tell him your plan.  
“Well…uh… it’s such a beautiful day… and I had nothing to do until night.”  
“Oh yeah… we’re going to-“  
“Flowers, dear?”  
You were startled when an old lady interrupted you, smiling sweetly at you both from her seat on her stool. Beside her was a cart with a multitude of beautiful flowers.  
“Only fifty pence for six!” she chirped with and old lady giggle.  
“Hmmm… that sounds nice… hold this for me, Al?” you handed him the plastic bag with the food, searching all your pockets for some money. Before that uncomfortable vendor / possible client silence could fall upon the three of you, you continued talking to your friend:  
“Don’t wanna buy some for your bird?” you looked at Al with a mischievous smile, trying to cut through the tension that had built around you quickly, and he laughed at you.  
“They’d probably rot before she’d even wanna see my face, she’s not very right in the head.”  
You stared at the floor while you continued to look through your pockets. Alex was such a sweet person, it was crazy to you that he was going out with someone so unstable and jealous. At least he wasn’t letting it splash onto your friendship.  
Finally you found some coins inside the back pocket of your jeans, fishing them out with your fingers to check the amount. Luckily you had two twenty pence coins and one fifty pence. You handed over the latter to the lady, thanking her and grabbing a bouquet of daffodils.  
“Have a nice evening, dear!” she said, putting the coin inside her little purse.  
“Thank you, you too!” you smiled at her, grabbing the bag from Alex’s hand and resuming your walk, turning right, realizing that you could already see the graveyard gate at the end of the street.  
“What were we talking about…?” you questioned, having completely lost your previous train of thought.  
“Uuuuhh… the food-“  
“No, like right now, before the lady talked to us.”  
Alex looked at the horizon, trying to remember what the hell you were talking about and you stared at his profile, trying to remember too.  
“Why did I-“  
“Oh Oh Oh I got it! We were talking about tonight! We’re going to The Sleeping Beast, right? I completely forgot.”  
“Yeah, Nick’s band is playing tonight. The Dodgems.” Alex growled their name in a weird voice, which made you laugh.  
“I’m not really close to them, never saw them rehearse. Are they okay?”  
Alex looked at you sideways, trying to contain his smile. You let out a loud cackle at his expression.  
“I mean…”  
“They’re shit!” you completed his phrase before he could finish, still laughing.  
“I- I mean…” your friend was trying to find the words to not trash talk the band while simultaneously trying to keep himself from joining your laughter. “Nick’s pretty good, but when all the other instruments are drowning out the bass… and they’re not… not even okay, there’s not much there to see. But everyone can improve! I was… me playing guitar sounded like a… chicken fart or something.”  
That last comment made you laugh for a solid minute, grabbing at and shaking Al’s arm for support and balance and he chuckled along with you. After a while, you finally managed to stop, taking deep breaths until you finally calmed down enough to get a whole phrase out:  
“You’re too nice, Al.” you said as you wrapped your arm around his shoulders and squeezing him, still grinning.  
At this point you were already right in front of the small rusty gate, pushing it open to reveal the wide field where several stone slabs were sticking out of the grass and wild flowers. An unnatural breeze messed your hair as soon as you closed the gate, but it wasn’t eerie, it was comforting more than anything. The priest from the local church nodded at you from afar, the building being a little distant from the graveyard entrance. You were barely able to distinguish his face, but waved back at him, waiting for him to go back into the church.  
“So…” Alex seemed calmer now, but still a little uncertain about what to do.  
“…let’s go.” You muttered softly, tapping your friend’s back. You walked further into the graveyard, the sound of your shoes crushing the grass feeling so soothing and otherworldly.  
The cemetery and the church were situated in the middle of a small grove, the trees creating shadows that moved sinuously with the wind. You continued walking further into it, eventually getting out of the penumbra of the trees and into an open space, the short dry stone walls barely demarcating the limits of the graveyard, less slabs sticking out of the grass here. Beyond there was a meadow for as far as the eye could see, only cut by a small stone road that lead further into the countryside. Everything around you had a yellow glow from the setting sun; you looked over at Alex and even this awkward boy that you’ve known for years in his same Adidas clothes that he wears every waking moment and his stupid Gromit from ‘Wallace and Gromit’ expression looked magical in that moment.  
You looked around, pondering where would be the better place to leave the food. You didn’t want the animals to eat it before the ghosts could or that the priest threw them out. Maybe you should’ve come earlier.  
Alex was shifting his weight from one foot to the other by your side. Having picked up on what you were doing, he suggested, uncertain:  
“Can’t you bury it?”  
You thought about it for a moment before responding in an equally uncertain tone:  
“I don’t know… I don’t think so.” Maybe you should’ve prepared better for this.  
You decided to set the contents from your plastic bag and the flowers behind a random statue that didn’t seem like it belonged to any grave in particular, so that someone coming into the graveyard wouldn’t spot it right away. All the containers were either made out of paper or very thick glass, you didn’t think that if any animals came across it they’d be harmed in any way (or so you hoped).  
Alex nodded at you, he also didn’t have any knowledge on where would be the best place to leave your offerings to ghosts.  
“Hey, let’s stay for a while.” You sat on the dry stone wall and slid your legs to the other side, standing at the beginning of the meadow. Your friend followed you and you both laid down on the grass, your shoulders touching.  
At that moment, looking up at the rare and beautiful orange sky with one of your best friends in the world laying next to you, a thought crossed your mind. Just a few feet from you, there were other people doing the same, and one day you’d be one of them. Everything in your life seemed so definitive, all the feelings so great it was impossible to believe that one day you wouldn’t be feeling them; the problems, homework, the teachers you didn’t like, that one cute guy you saw at a party and didn’t have the balls to talk to, this engulfed you and almost all your thoughts and sometimes you dreaded growing up, the difficulties only seemed pile up, but in the end it wouldn’t matter. You’d go back there, in the exact same patch of grass you were laying on, you were certain you would be exactly here in a hundred years. That was the only thing you were one hundred percent sure in your life.  
“Hey, Al.” you started, not sure how to voice your thoughts. You lifted your hand from the grass, looking at your palm.  
“Yeah?” he did the same, tapping your palm gently. You both started moving your arms back and fort, your palms meeting in the middle and then going back down, like a pendulum.  
“Do you want to be buried here?”  
“Hmmm… I don’t really think much about my death… but where else would I?”  
“I mean, if you guys’ band takes off… you’d move from here. You could choose any other graveyard in the world!”  
“I think… I think that’d be kinda stupid, love. Why’d you want to be buried far away from home? I won’t be like those dickheads who forget about their origins if we really take off. I mean, I’m from High Green!” you both shared a soft giggle at this.  
“Yeah, I guess you’ll be one of those famous people that are living in LA or something and still wearing their shitty home town’s t-shirt.”  
“Hey… High Green’s great… I’m sure you can’t feel this peaceful in LA…”  
You looked at each other, and looking into Alex’s deep eyes you felt the weight of this moment, it was meaningful in a way you weren’t really sure you could comprehend. It felt like the gravity had increased tenfold, you felt like you couldn’t even breathe properly. And, just as quickly as it had come, it went away, a soft breeze moving a few hair strands across Alex’s cheek and forehead. It felt like a seal, it was impossible to explain.  
You noticed that your palms were lightly touching one another, lifted off the ground. You laid it back on the grass, now in between your shoulders, still holding eye contact with your friend.  
Alex didn’t seem to notice, but there was an ant walking up his cheek. You squashed it with your finger and he widened his eyes slightly in confusion. When you wiped it away and let it fall back on the grass he realized what had happened and let out a sweet laugh, you smiling at him.  
You looked back up at the sky, you saw from your peripheral vision that your friend mirrored you. It was a darker orange now, and the east portion of the sky was a soft shade of dark blue. It was a little colder, making you pull the collar of your blouse up a bit.  
“What time are we going?” you inquired.  
“I- oh, to The Sleeping Beast? I think we’ll grab the bus at eight thirty?”  
“Okay, just to. Organize everything in my mind.”  
There was a moment of silence before Alex said:  
“Cookie told us to come over his house before, he’s gonna throw some frozen pizzas into the oven.”  
“Hmmm nice, I think we only got soup at home.”  
“No offense love, but your mom’s soup is really weird.”  
“It’s alright because it’s true. Pizzaaaaa…”  
You sighed, stretching your legs as far as your muscles would allow and your arms above your head, enjoying the few minutes of sunlight you still had left. You laid there in silence for ten more minutes, not thinking about anything, just appreciating the scenery and the weather. Now most of the sky above you was that soft shade of blue and the temperature had dropped significantly; your ears were starting to go cold. You brought your arms back down, clutching your blouse.  
“Let’s go to Jamie’s in a bit then?” Alex inquired softly.  
“Yeah, in a bit. I need to swing by my house first, okay?”  
“Depends, is it to pick up a dead body?”  
You playfully slapped Alex’s chest while you both laughed. He took a hold of your hand and there was a moment of hesitation from both of you before you continued talking as if nothing had happened:  
“No! I didn’t bring my wallet with me, also I want to grab my eyeliner before we go.”  
“But you look fine, love.” You smiled at your friend’s compliment, shaking your head slightly.  
“Yeah, thanks, but Saturday’s the only day of the week that I have the patience to do my makeup. I don’t know, I think it’s cool.”  
Alex just nodded, and you both went back to your comfortable silence, now holding hands. You looked at him at an angle where you could see him, the sky and the meadow unfolding endlessly before you two. You took a mental picture, imprinted the moment as vividly as possible in your memory, because you knew you’d miss it forever.

**Author's Note:**

> yes alex did blow on ur dandelion so you'd have a wish too and even tho that might be considered cheating it's basically your wish coming true because it's your friend helping you achieve ur dreams fhhjfdjsnjjhewfjiwidnfvhbriwc I am going insane


End file.
